


hospital roll call/and life goes on

by inkk



Category: All Time Low (Band), Asking Alexandria, Bandom, Black Veil Brides, Bring Me The Horizon, Of Mice & Men (Band), Pierce the Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, You Me At Six
Genre: (no numbers mentioned), Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Mental Institution, Anorexia, Bisexual Character, Doctors & Physicians, Eating Disorders, F/F, F/M, Gay Character, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lesbian Character, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, NO MPREG I SWEAR, Nurses & Nursing, Pregnancy, Single Parents, Surgeons, palliative care, psych ward shenanigans, snippets are all unrelated so you can skip some if you want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-05 08:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14039742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkk/pseuds/inkk
Summary: Various short vignettes of life around the hospital, including Ashley trying to impress Andy by popping sick wheelies in his chair, Oli and Josh denying the inevitable, Ben as a single dad, Alex and Jack becoming new moms, Alan adjusting to life on an eating disorder ward and Kellin and Vic playing Pantera in the operating room.





	hospital roll call/and life goes on

**Author's Note:**

> not beta-read. mostly from experience but also combined with a lot of research! if it's too inaccurate, i'm sorry. be gentle with me.  
> also worth mentioning: there’s not a lot of talk of anorexia in here, only of the shenanigans at the treatment unit (no weight numbers, physical descriptions of “thinness” or caloric intake numbers etc) so none of that should be triggering. that whole story also comes all from experience, but keep in mind that it's different at every hospital.  
> as the tags say, all of the following snippets are unrelated and can be read as stand-alones!

**_97th Street Entrance, 12:02PM_ **

“Mind if I bum a smoke?” a voice asks from Andy’s left elbow. He turns to look, finding a man in a wheelchair rolling up beside him just outside of the hospital doors.

“Yeah, sure.” Andy pulls out his pack and shakes one out, handing it over with his lighter. The man puts it between his lips and flicks the lighter with practiced ease, lighting the cherry and taking a long drag. He hands the cheap Zippo back to Andy. He’s handsome, with long brown hair, dark almond eyes and sickly pale skin covered in tattoos.

“I’m Ashley,” the man finally offers, exhaling smoke and leaning back in his chair. “And you? What’re you in for?”

“Andy. Just visiting a friend.”

Ashley nods and takes another pull off his cigarette. “Kind of ironic to be smoking outside of a hospital,” he says with a grimace. “I’m trying to quit.”

“Me too,” Andy smirks. “Harder than it looks.”

“My docs keep telling me it’ll kill me. That is, if my kidney failure doesn’t get to me first,” Ashley continues. His cheeks hollow around the cigarette and he blinks slowly, then the smoke comes out his nostrils. “Your friend, are they going to be okay?”

Andy shrugs. “Hard to say,” he rumbles. “He’s in surgery right now.” He thinks about CC currently cut open on that table and clears his throat. “Stupid asshole crashed his motorbike. Might never walk again.”

“Hey, it’s not all bad,” Ashley motions to his chair. “I can pop a sick wheelie,” he offers, demonstrating as he balances on his wheels, feet up in the air.

Andy smiles and runs a hard through his mop of dark hair. “Pretty impressive.”

Ashley sets his feet down and rolls back and forth on the spot, smoking idly. “You worried?”

“Yeah,” Andy says, breathing out smoke through the corner of his mouth. He doesn’t see the point in lying. “He’s my best friend. I told him to be careful, but...” he shakes his head.

“That’s just the way it is,” Ashley sighs, taking another drag.

“You scared? For yourself?” Andy turns to ask him.

Ashley shrugs, nonplussed. “Nah. I’ve been close to dead too many times to really fear death anymore. We’re pals by now.”

Andy chuckles. He shifts his weight and takes one last drag off his cigarette, then stubs it out on the sole of his shoe. He paces a couple steps to the right to toss it in the ashtray. “I better get back in there,” he says, clearing his throat.

Ashley takes a long pull of his cigarette with a considering expression, burning it down to the filter and then stubbing it out on the metal part of his left wheel. “C’mere,” he says, waving Andy closer, “Pass me your carton.”

Andy fishes his box of cigarettes out of his back pocket and hands it over. He watches Ashley pull a pen out of his pocket and scribble something on the inside of the top flap. “Give me a call when your friend gets out of surgery,” he grins up at him.

The corner of Andy’s mouth pulls up. “Yeah, maybe I will.”

 

+

 

**_Room 337, Palliative Care Unit, 2:37PM_ **

“Can I get you anything?” the nurse asks softly, stopping at the door.

Oli shakes his head. “No, thank you.” He exhales. “I… It won’t be long now.” He bows his head as she quietly leaves, resting it against the side of the bed where his hand is linked with Josh’s cold one.

Josh has been declining steadily for the past few days, and today the mottling showed up on his legs - discoloured blue and purple patches on his knees and feet; a sure sign of impending death. Ever since his diagnosis three months ago, they’ve been talking about the end and putting his affairs in order, but Oli still can’t believe it’s finally here. He doesn’t want to believe that today is the day.

It could be minutes or hours until he hears a slight change in breathing and Josh faintly says, “Oli? Is— Is that you?” His voice is soft, and there’s a burble in the back of his throat.

Josh’s skin is blotchy in places, sometimes cold, sometimes clammy. His cheeks are sallow and his body is frail, having long since lost any sense of appetite or thirst other than occasional sips of water.

“Yeah, love. I’m here.”

Josh licks his dry lips and says, “Do you think…” He pauses for a long moment, just breathing. “Do you think it’s almost time?”

There’s a long pause. Oli’s voice cracks when he finally says, “Yes, dear. I think we’re almost there.” He bows his head to hide the tears threatening to overflow.

“I’m sorry,” Josh says softly. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“For leaving you.”

“Are you scared?” Oli asks.

Josh smiles at him. “No, I’m not. Just tired. I think— I think I’m going to sleep for a while. We can say goodbye later.”

Oli’s properly crying now, and he wipes a tear from his cheek, smearing it across his skin. “I’m with you,” he says, rubbing Josh’s thumb with his own. “I love you. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

“‘Course you will,” Josh says, dissolving into a weak bout of coughing. “And I’ll—“ he inhales with a rattle, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

They sit there, suspended in silence as Josh rests. Oli counts the inhales and exhales as he has for the past week, listening powerlessly as they grow more and more shallow.

 

+

 

**_Room 216, Pediatric Ward, 5:43PM_ **

“Dad! Dad, look, a puppy!” Ben’s eyes flick over to where Alexandria is pointing excitedly with the bulk of her new cast, her eyes alight. Over by the elevators is a tall, spindly mutt with long amber fur, its leash held by a stocky man in scrubs with a rugged beard. “Dad, can we please pet him?”

“Okay,” Ben agrees, “But you have to ask first. Use your words.”

Under Ben’s watchful eye, Alexandria rushes over to the man. “Can I pet your dog?” she asks.

“Hm?” The man turns. “Oh, yes, of course. He’s very friendly. His name is Cameron.”

Ben walks over as Alexandria coos at the dog, reaching out to let it sniff her before gently patting its shaggy side. It’s almost as tall as her. 

“Hey,” Ben offers by way of greeting.

“Hey,” the man smiles. “I’m Danny. Is she yours?”

“Yeah,” Ben nods.

Danny turns back to Alexandria. “That’s quite the cast you have on there, little lady,” he says.

“I fell off the monkey bars,” Alexandria says, sounding pleased of the hot-pink wrap on her leftforearm. She runs her fingers through the dog’s fur. “It hurt, but it’s better now. I’m going to get all my classmates to sign it,” she tells him. Cameron’s tail wags excitedly as she scratches behind his ears. “Are you a doctor? How come your dog is here?”

“No, I’m a nurse,” Danny laughs. “Cameron is actually a certified companion dog, so I bring him in on Saturdays to see the kids.”

“Really?”

“Really. I even have cards with his picture on them. Want one?”

Alexandria looks up to Ben for approval, who nods. “Yes!”

“Use your manners,” Ben gently reminds her.

“Yes please,” she corrects herself.

Danny reaches in his pants pocket, pulling out a little picture of the dog with his name emblazoned in fancy script at the top. “It even has facts about him on he back,” he says, handing it over.

Alexandria looks absolutely in awe. “Thank you! Dad, look!”

“That’s pretty cool,” Ben agrees, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’d better get going if you want to be at your mum’s house on time, princess.” He looks to Danny with a smile. “Thanks, mate.”

“Anytime,” Danny replies, mirroring his expression.

Ben turns to guide Alexandria away when she says, “Wait! Dad, can Danny sign my cast? Please?”

“Sounds like you should ask him yourself,” Ben cocks his head, shooting Danny a look that says _you don’t have to_.

“Sure, I can do that,” Danny grins. He tucks Cameron’s leash into his pocket and pulls a pen from the breast pocket of his scrubs, leaning in to write _DW_ on the hot pink material up by her elbow.

The three of them say their goodbyes. It’s not until they’re crossing the parking lot toward the car that Alexandria tugs on his sleeve and says, “Danny was really nice.”

Ben nods. “Yeah, he was.”

“Can I invite him and Cameron to my birthday party?”

“No, honey,” Ben chuckles, “I think Danny is a little too busy for that.”

“But he signed my cast!” Alexandria protests. “And you liked him, I know you did.”

Ben laughs. “Alex, you’ve got to stop trying to set me up with every man we meet.” Ever since he had explained to her last month what “bisexual” meant, the questions and suggestions never stopped.

“He liked you too,” Alexandria insists. “You should talk to him more!” Softly, she adds, “I know you get lonely when I’m gone and there’s no one at the house with you.”

Ben sighs. “I love you, princess. And I still love your mum, too. But I’m also fine with being on my own for a while, alright?”

Alexandria bites her lip. “Okay,” she relents. “But take this for later, when you change your mind.”

She hands him the card with the picture of the dog. On the back, it says, _For questions or comments, contact my owner at danny.w@gmail.com!_

Ben laughs, but he sticks the card in his pocket anyways.

 

+

 

**_Meal Room, Psychiatric Ward, Eating Disorder Subunit, 3:01PM_ **

Alan is reading in bed with her nasogastric feed running at her side when a tall, cheerful-looking girl pokes her head into the room and says, “We got Tina’s laptop hooked up in the TV room, wanna come watch _American Horror Story: Asylum_ for the irony before the nurses shut us down?”

“Oh,” Alan blinks. “What? Sure, I guess.”

The other girl grins as Alan swings her slippered feet off the bed, grabs her feed machine pole and stands up to come with her. “I’m Austin,” she offers. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Alan. Um, sorry, I’m new. Just got here yesterday morning.”

“Your half of the room is so empty,” Austin marvels with a smile, looking around.

Alan supposes it’s true - the whiteboard above her bed is blank, and where other patients have immediately put up pictures or fairy lights displayed, she only has a small stack of books on the nightstand.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t really have any decorations.”

Austin looks at her for a minute, then nods. “Well, see you in there,” she says, then darts off to the next room. “Philippa!” Alan hears her say out of earshot of the nurses, “C’mon, we’re watching _American Horror Story_ in the TV room!”

Alan drifts down the hall, wheeling her pole past the nurse’s station and over to the TV room. Things are slow on the weekend when school is not in session, and the unit has a lethargic feel. It’s less crowded, seeing as most patients get weekend passes to go home with family.

As promised, there’s a laptop connected to the DVD player inside and two other patients sprawled on the couches, both looking asleep under mounds of hospital-supplied blankets. Austin chooses an empty spot on the couch and positions her pole so it won’t block anyone’s view. The sound the machine makes is loud in the quiet room.

Another girl - Tina - is fiddling with the TV settings and occasionally pushing buttons on the computer. “There!” she triumphantly declares as the screen lights up with the disc menu and a creepy montage of footage.

Austin and two other girls - one of whom Alan supposes must be Philippa - enter the room, shutting the door and dimming the lights. To Alan’s surprise, Austin immediately approaches the spot next to her on the couch with a smile. “Can I sit here?” she points.

Alan nods. She suddenly feels self-conscious of the tube on her face, and she fiddles with the port end sitting in her lap.

“When the nurses bust us, I had nothing to do with this,” Tina announces to the room as she sits down on the other couch next to Philippa. She hits play on episode one of season one.

At some point, Alan dozes off. When she wakes up again, she only vaguely remembers something about nuns, and the TV has been switched to _The Amazing Spiderman 2_. Alan blushes when she realizes Austin’s head is resting lightly on her shoulder, the two of them covered with a blanket.

“I ran your flush for you,” someone says quietly. When Alan looks, Tina winks at her. She glances up to her feed bag and sees there is, indeed, water being cycled through the bag instead of the initial Ensure.

“Thanks,” Alan replies softly, glad that the room is dim enough to hide her profusely red cheeks.

The next day, a Sunday, Austin, Tina and Philippa and the other girl (who Alan comes to know as Shayley) invite her over to their table at breakfast.

“Hey,” Alan says, gingerly setting her tray down. A nurse quickly swoops by, double-checks her tray and signs off on her menu, then does the same for the four others. It’s mac-and-cheese day, which means Alan is anxious and on high alert. She’s already taken a PRN in anticipation of the meal.

“You guys missed a great intentions group this morning,” Shay is saying. “Dr. Pauley was on a roll, talking about prioritizing your needs versus others and shit. Really cool.”

“I keep telling you, nobody in their right mind wants to wake up at 6:30 for that,” Tina shakes her head. “I can find the same information on my mom’s FaceBook.” Philippa and Austin laugh. Alan feels the corners of her own mouth twitching up into a smile as she eats a forkful of noodles.

“So Alan, how’s the first week?” Philippa asks.

Alan shrugs as everyone looks at her. “Fine. I hate the NG, though,” she mumbles, pointing to the tube up her nose. “Feels like someone reached down my throat with a spoon and played around in there.”

“That sounds about right,” Shay laughs.

“It does get better,” Austin says kindly. “Really, it sounds like a sack of shit, but it does. I stopped night feeds a while ago and got my NG out last week, and there’s no way in hell I’m going back to that.” The other girls nod in agreement.

“How… How long have you been here?” Alan timidly asks.

“Two months, this time,” Austin smiles. “I’ve bounced around a couple other inpatient programs, but this one is going to be my last hospital stay.”

“It’s my first time here, too,” Philippa says. “I’ve been here for four months. Fingers crossed, I’ll be discharged sometime in the next two weeks.”

Tina hi-fives her. “Hell yeah, you will! Go Team Recovery!”

“Team Recovery!” Austin and Shay cheer quietly.

On Monday afternoon, when Alan gets back to the unit after school, her room is no longer blank. In the middle of the wall, a single polaroid is taped up. Upon closer inspection, the picture is of herself sleeping, Austin’s head leaning on her shoulder.

 

+

 

**_Floor 2, Delivery Wing, 6:17PM_ **

“She’s in the delivery room right now. Yeah, she went into labour around five this morning… It was slow at first, but now things are picking up. The nurse says she’s almost ready for the delivery part. She’s doing perfectly,” Jack says into the phone, unable to keep the smile off her face. “Contractions are a minute or so apart. Sorry for not calling sooner, it’s just we didn’t want to call you guys until we were sure it wasn’t another false alarm.”

“Sorry, What? Oh, yeah. No, we still haven’t picked a name yet. Listen— I gotta go. I just wanted to update you guys. We love you, can’t wait for you to meet the baby. Both of you.” She listens for a minute. “Yeah, I’ll tell her. Thank you. See you soon.”

Jack hits the end call button and turns to retenter the delivery room. From inside, she hears Alex utter a particularly loud yell. “ _Jack?_ ”

“I’m here, baby,” Jack reassures her, closing the door behind herself and moving past where the nurse is checking Alex’s cervix for the umpeenth time.

She moves to Alex’s side and trying to remember everything they went over in the birthing class two weeks ago. “I’m here,” she says. “Zack and Rian are two hours out. You’re doing so well, honey.”

Alex groans, a yell coming out. “It hurts, Jack, it hurts so bad,” she whimpers, “Like the worst cramps I’ve ever had. Oh my god—“ she cuts off in the middle of her sentence to groan through clenched teeth. “—Can someone please tell me when I can start pushing?”

“You’re almost there,” the nurse tells her. “The cervix is almost completely dilated. You’re doing excellent.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Alex mumbles, “Jack, Jack, hold my hand. Hold my fucking hand— oh my god, okay.” She squeezes her eyes tightly, forehead scrunched up through the pain for a long moment. “Okay. Okay,” she eventually relaxes her grip, face going slack and breathing deeply. “Okay. It’s over for a second.”

Jack strokes her hand. “We should make you a t-shirt that says ‘Sorry about what I said when I was in labour’.”

“Very funny,” Alex says, but it comes out weak and without the usual bite.

The nurse laughs. “I think we’re just about ready,” she smiles. “Let’s get the doctor in here. How do you feel, Alex? Are you ready?”

Alex laughs weakly, her head falling back. “Oh, god yeah. Let’s get this miniature human out of me.”

The next ten minutes are a whirlwind of activity. The doctor - Doctor Flyzik - comes in with a jovial air, goes over the birthing plan once more and then the delivery starts in earnest.

Alex does exactly as she’s directed. Jack stands by her side the whole time, pushing sweat-soaked hair from her forehead and telling her how well she’s doing.

“Jack,” Alex gasps at one point, chin tucked to her chest, “Jack, my vagina— It’s on _fire_ —“ she cuts her sentence off with a load cry.

“The head is almost out,” Dr. Flyzik cheerfully informs her. “Do you want to see?”

“Not really, no,” Alex grits her teeth. “It feels like I’m shitting out a watermelon and I sure as hell don’t think it looks any fucking prettier.”

Behind Dr. Flyzik’s right shoulder, the nurse shrugs. “The miracle of life isn’t always pretty.”

Jack measures the next half-hour in hand squeezes and pained grunts, murmuring reassurances and watching Alex’s body pull itself apart in order to put something beautiful together.

The doctors suction the baby’s nose and mouth as the head comes out. Then finally, there’s one, long yell and the baby’s shoulders come loose, quickly followed by the rest. 

“Oh my god,” Jack says faintly in the aftermath as the mewling baby is placed on Alex’s belly and dried off. “You did it. Oh my god, we have a baby.”

Jack faintly registers the umbilical cord being clamped and various quick assessments being done on the baby, but it seems as if the team of doctors and nurses are on a different planet. She can’t tear her eyes away from Alex’s exhausted, beautifully enraptured face. She realizes Alex is crying silently as she looks down at the tiny infant. 

“She’s beautiful,” Alex says. “Jack, she’s so beautiful.”

Jack weeps and kisses Alex’s head. “I’m so fucking proud of you,” she can’t stop smiling. “Oh, god, Lex, we have a little girl.”

 

+

 

**_Scrub Room of OR 3, 7:49PM_ **

“You ready for this?” Vic asks as he rinses down his hands and forearms.

“Yeah,” Kellin says, blushing as he focuses on soaping up. “Yeah, I’m ready. I practiced in the skills lab a lot.”

Vic gives him a long look, and Kellin’s face reddens further. “I know this is your first time assisting on a major thoracic surgery like this. It’s okay to be nervous.”

“Yeah,” Kellin looks away to rinse. “I’m… yeah. I’m fine. It’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be there with you the whole time,” Vic grins easily. “You’re going to make all the other interns jealous. They wish they could get on a life-threatening aortic aneurysm with me,” he waggles his eyebrows.

Kellin laughs despite himself. “Sure, Dr. Fuentes. Sure.”

“Please, by all means call me Vic. We’re about to get elbows-deep in blood together.”

The two of them finish washing and masking, then walk into the operating room together and dress. Vic greets the anesthesiologist, Jaime, and the surgical nurse, Tony.

“Let’s do this,” he says, eyes crinkling above his mask in clear indication of a wide grin. “Someone put on my Pantera playlist, please.”

No matter how often Kellin hears it, Vic cracking his neck, holding out a hand and saying “ten blade” never gets old.

 

+

 

_fin._

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh thank u for reading!! means the world to me ♥️ kudos are Great and i’d love it if you commented on which snippet you liked the best!


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